The Potions Mistake
by PurpleArmadillo
Summary: It all started with a spilled potions vial... Now, with the help of some unexpected characters, Harry must find a solution that will allow him to escape the parallel universe and return things to how they're supposed to be.
1. The Spill

**Okay, this was actually inspired by a weird dream I had the other night... I formed it into a short story since the idea was kind of interesting.**

**Disclaimer: Obviously, I do not own any characters or related elements of the Harry Potter universe. **

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The Potions Mistake

Chapter 1: The Spill

It was the last class before lunch and Potions seemed to drag on forever as Harry tried to concentrate on the list of directions written on the board behind Snape's desk. Step four required three billywig stingers and step five mentioned something about fairy wings…

Harry noticed a spot on the far wall that strangely resembled the Golden Snitch, making him think of how much he would rather be practicing Quidditch than sitting in a dim, stuffy dungeon brewing impossible potions. He imagined pulling out his wand, summoning his Firebolt, and soaring out of the room to fly around the Quidditch Pitch outside.

Harry quickly turned his attention back towards chopping up his billywig stingers as Snape rose from his desk at the front of the room and took to drifting up and down the rows of students, being careful to point out even the smallest mistakes imaginable. While Snape was busy looming over an already petrified Neville, Ron placed a vial of his finished potion on his desk and turned to talk to Harry.

"So how are you coming along on your Divination essay?" Ron asked as his friend added the last of his fairy wings to his cauldron. "I'm already almost done with mine."

"I think I have twenty more words to go," Harry replied as he stirred the potion carefully. "How did you decide to begin yours?"

"Hang on," Ron reached his hand into his bag to search for something. "I have it around here somewhere… Here it is." He pulled out a crumpled roll of parchment and attempted to use the edge of his desk to flatten it out. "Why Divination is an Important Subject: Divination is an important subject because knowing your future can be important to your life. It is also important since it is important to me. The importance is—"

"You've used important six times in your first three sentences," Hermione added from the desk next to Ron's. "I don't think Trelawney is going to give you a very high mark for that paper."

"I still managed to write my nine hundred words," Ron protested. "I'd say it deserves at least a C for effort."

"Mr. Weasley!" Snape suddenly said, causing Ron to jump and knock his potion vial over, its contents spilling all over Harry's hands and desk. The Slytherins roared with laughter as Snape strode over to examine his hands for any harmful side affects. Neville seemed slightly relieved that he had not caused the accident this time.

After Snape was convinced that Harry was absolutely fine, (he appeared disappointed at this discovery) he flicked his wand and the spill from Ron's vial disappeared. "I suggest next time you pay more attention, Mr. Weasley—you might actually learn something." He moved back to behind his desk and addressed the rest of the class. "You shall gather the rest of your potions ingredients in time for the next lesson." They were given a few minutes to clean up their cauldrons and wash their hands then everyone filed out of the room after they were dismissed.

"I'm really sorry, Harry," Ron apologized again as the three friends walked down the corridor towards the staircase to join the rest of the school in the Great Hall for lunch.

"Forget about it; I'm fine," Harry decided to change the subject. "You might want to worry more about your essay though."

"Yeah, er.. do you mind if I see yours later tonight?" Ron asked. "I need a better introduction paragraph."

"Go ahead, but I'm not too sure if mine's that great either." This was the last thing Harry remembered saying because the next second, he found himself seated at the Gryffindor table in the Great Hall sitting next to Ron and Hermione. For some odd reason he could not remember even going through the doors or sitting down. Obviously, he had also missed the meal because he took a glance in Ron's direction and noticed he was already finished eating.

"Are you alright, Harry?" Hermione asked. "On our way up from the dungeons you looked pale, like you were going to faint or something."

"I don't even remember walking into the Hall…" Harry replied. "The last thing I remember is Ron asking me if he could look at my Divination essay." Hermione appeared to have not heard him; she was busy gazing absentmindedly off in one direction. "Hermione?" She turned back to look at him as if in some kind of daze.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I was busy daydreaming about things…"

"Thinking about your Muggle Studies report?"

"No," she frowned as if Harry had asked her a silly question. "Why would you think I'm worried about my research paper? You know I don't bother with my homework when I'm busy helping my dad get articles for the Quibbler." _What in the world was Hermione talking about?_ Harry wondered. Before he had a chance to ask her if _she_ was okay, a barn owl swooped down and delivered a copy of the Daily Prophet. She took the paper and handed a Knut to the bird. With a satisfied hoot, the owl took off to seek out other students that had ordered the newspaper that day. Harry attempted to talk to Ron while she was busy flipping through the pages.

"Don't you notice something strange about Hermione?" he whispered. "She just mentioned that she doesn't care about her homework right now because she has been helping her dad with the Quibbler. But Luna's dad works on the Quibbler." To add to Harry's confusion, Ron started laughing.

"Luna's dad? Harry, Luna would be the one who's always in the library doing research!"

"What are you talking about?" Harry frowned. "Hermione is the one who worries about exams and studying." _What was going on? _Luna_ usually was telling him about her weird daydreams—not Hermione._ But Ron was already thinking about something else; Harry noticed him glaring at some students at the Slytherin table.

"Filthy little Mudbloods," Ron muttered under his breath.

"What?" Harry was taken aback by his friend's statement.

"They shouldn't even be allowed to be in the same school as us!"

"Would you mind your own business, Weasley!" Malfoy called from the Slytherin table. Ron turned around again and stared at his plate angrily.

"I hope his parents can't afford to send him next year," Ron said. "That would make my best year ever."

"Don't get your hopes up," Harry said. "With the money that his family has, he could probably buy Hogwarts…" It was Ron's turn to frown at Harry.

"_His_ parents? They could hardly afford a used robe! Everyone knows his family is poor, why do you think they live in that dump of a place… what do they call it…? the Burrow or something." Thankfully, Ron was too busy grumbling to notice that Harry's mouth was hanging half open. _Why was everyone acting completely opposite? Were they playing some kind of a prank on him?_ Harry thought.

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**There's only two more chapters to go until the end. I'm told you this was going to be strange... But I hope everyone enjoys it anyway.**

**-PurpleArmadillo **


	2. Opposite Behavior

**Here is part 2 of 3. Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: Nope, still don't own anything.**

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The Potions Mistake 

Chapter 2: Opposite Behavior

Hermione sighed and put the paper down as if she regretted buying it in the first place. Harry peered at the front article:

**Deadly Avalanche, More Than 756 Dead**

Late last night around three in the morning, a violent trembling aroused the citizens of a small village, located just to the north of London. One witness claims, "I got up when my house began to shake. Next thing I know, I look out the window and see the mountain crumpling. Then a whole side of the mountain started sliding right towards my neighborhood; huge boulders falling at us and everything." Soon after, Ministry officials arrived on the scene. As to exactly what caused the landslide, Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge said this, "We have absolutely no doubt as to the source of this tragic disaster. As horrible as it is to admit, this incident was the work of He-Who-Must-No-Be-Named and his followers. We also have evidence that suggests there were giants present on the mountain when the avalanche occurred. However, the investigation is currently still underway and we can neither confirm nor deny giant involvement as of yet." The Ministry assures everyone that they will keep our reporters notified as new developments unfold.

"This is terrible," Harry said after he was finished reading. "It's only the beginning of the second war and it looks like Voldemort is off to a good start already."

"I'll say!" Ron nodded. "I don't know where we would be without him. It would probably be total chaos around here."

"Er…" Harry didn't quite know what to say to his friend's strange statement. "Why would it be unorganized at Hogwarts without him?"

"Blimey, Harry!" Ron suddenly exclaimed. "You're acting really odd today."

Deciding to ignore Ron's response, Harry pulled out his Divination essay to check for any mistakes as he filled his plate with whatever was left over from the lunch he had supposedly missed. He took one glance at his heading and immediately did a double take. Instead of his original title, _Why Divination Is Important_, it now read, _Do House-Elves Like Socks?_

Unfortunately, the surprises did not end there; Harry looked over towards the High table where the faculty and staff were seated and almost choked on the piece of chicken he was eating. Sitting in the headmaster's chair, speaking with Snape, was none other than Lord Voldemort.

"Voldemort's the headmaster?" Harry said in shock.

"Um… Yeah," Ron appeared slightly worried. "What did you think I was talking about earlier? Are you sure you don't need to stop by the Hospital Wing, Harry?"

"Then what happened to Dumbledore?" There were several frightened gasps and the clanging of silverware dropping onto plates.

"Honestly, Harry," Hermione whispered. "Not so loud. You know people don't like to use You-Know-Who's name."

"But Dumbledore should be—" Harry started, but Hermione interrupted him as many students started to glance uncomfortably in their direction. "Can someone please tell me why everyone is acting strangely all of a sudden?" he finally asked. "It's like everything is the opposite of what it is supposed to be!"

Realizing the only explanation and the only solution, Harry got up and hurried out of the Great Hall, heading down the stairway and back into the dungeons. Fortunately, the Potions classroom door was already opened; it seemed that Snape had finished lunch early and was in his office grading papers. He rushed in only to discover that it wasn't the Potions Master—it was Hagrid.

"Can I help you, Potter?" Hagrid asked, sounding uncannily like Snape. Harry figured that any help he could get at the moment was great, no matter who it was from.

"Professor, earlier this morning a vial of potion spilled all over my hands and desk. When I went to lunch after that, everything was—well—Ron was behaving like Malfoy and Malfoy was acting like Ron. The same thing happened with Hermione and Dumbledore," Harry attempted to explain. "It was as if the people I knew had swapped lives with each other."

As if things could not get any worse, at that very second Neville entered the room. "Oh, hi Harry," he said. "I'm sorry if I'm interrupting anything." Harry meant to answer but nothing came out as his attention was drawn to Neville's forehead; just below his hair was a lightning bolt shaped scar. "I-I guess I'll just come back later…" Neville peered at Harry's expression nervously and scurried off in the opposite direction.

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**Neville: The Boy Who Lived! Next is the last and final chapter of this short story.**

**-PurpleArmadillo**


	3. The Antidote

**Disclaimer: All things Harry Potter belong to JK Rowling**

**And with that, I present part 3:**

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The Potions Mistake

Chapter 3: The Antidote

Harry turned around to find Hagrid setting up a pewter cauldron on one of the class tables.

"I presume that you want the antidote?" Hagrid asked, already knowing Harry's answer.

"Yes, sir." Hagrid opened a drawer on the side of his desk and placed an old faded book next to the cauldron.

"So you claim that the spilled contents caused other people to switch places?" Harry nodded as Hagrid began to search the index in the back. "Are you sure that it didn't simply send you to a place where everything is parallel? That would be the likely explanation if the potion only came into contact with you… Then this antidote should allow you to return to the normal world you left behind."

Luckily, Hagrid had all of the necessary ingredients to brew it and the potion was finished in half an hour. Harry took the vial and filled it with the liquid from the steaming cauldron.

"Are you positive this is going to work?" he asked uncertainly.

"It should," Hagrid said. "The worst that will happen is you will find yourself in the Hospital Wing when you wake up…" Harry hoped that he knew what he was talking about as he drank the substance inside the vial. His vision suddenly clouded up and a stale taste filled his mouth. Then everything went black…

When he opened his eyes he found himself sitting in a sofa in the Gryffindor common room. Looking out the nearby window, he could see that it was already dark; this explained why the room was deserted. All the students had gone to bed for the night. There was the sound of arguing voices as Ron and Hermione appeared, coming down the stairs from the boy's dormitory.

"I still don't think it's fair that girls can come into our dormitory but we can't go in yours," Ron was saying. When they reached the bottom, Hermione noticed Harry was awake.

"Sorry we left you," she said. "But you looked really tired. We decided to let you rest for a while." _Did the antidote work? _Harry thought. _He knew one way to find out…_

"Are you finished with your Muggle Studies report?" he asked her.

"I just did," she seemed slightly surprised. "Remember? I told you two that was why I rushed off to the library after lunch. I wanted to write my last paragraph."

"I'm glad to see you guys are back to normal," Harry said in relief.

"Huh?" Ron shared a confused look with Hermione. "What are you talking about?"

"Remember in class when that potion spilled on my hands? Well, it transported me to another world where everything was the exact opposite of what it normally is. Everyone looked the same but they all behaved different. You were like Malfoy and you were acting like Luna." He explained the whole experience to them.

"Harry, you didn't go anywhere," Ron replied after a short moment of stunned silence. "You were with us the whole day."

"He's right," Hermione agreed. "You must have been dreaming."

"I thought for sure it was re--" Harry said. "I guess it _was_ just a dream…" He reached into his bag and handed Ron his paper. "You said you wanted to see what I wrote for my introduction. You can just give it back to me in the morning—I'm going to bed." He walked up the staircase leading into the boy's dormitory.

"I thought _I _had weird dreams," Ron smiled at Hermione as he sat down with Harry's essay. He looked at the heading and frowned. "_Do House-Elves Like Socks?_"

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**I bet Dobby would love Harry's paper! **

**Alright, that was the end. Read and review, thanks!**

**-PurpleArmadillo**


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